This year’s PIFF was pretty short. We only visited Shii in Stockholm (or rather in Uppsala to be more precise) and with everybody more or less in the regular work force except for Shii and me, this was basically a week-end trip. As a result, we ended up sightseeing a little bit and watched less films. Hopefully next time we actually get to marathon films again, when the PIFF is tentatively slated for summer.
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
I will keep this one short. The bottom line is that I have absolutely no idea why this is a classic. I am a huge fan of both Bette Davis and Joan Crawford (much more the former though), and I think both of them gave a great performance, yet I was somehow not into the story (nor the characters) at all. Apparently it’s a cult novel, but it’s so obviously written by a man who does not look particularly kindly upon aging women. I don’t even have to delve into the absurdity of how Jane descended into madness, because ultimately books or movies don’t necessarily have to be hyperrealistic about the psychological mechanisms if it leads to an engaging story.
For me, Baby Jane didn’t really have that, so as a result this is the typical case in which I have enjoyed watching a film in friendly company, but the film itself was not that great. I am happy that it revived the careers of two great Hollywood stars, but I wished for them that it had been better roles.